Sheena's Son
by melodyfireprincess
Summary: Sheena tries to keep a secret from Zelos. One- shot. This happens between the first time they go to Mizuho and when Colette gets kidnapped by Rodyle. Rated PG13 for suggestive themes and thematic elements


Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia or its characters or cities. I own my characters Melody, Rick, Riku, and the other Riku.

One fine spring day Sheena, Zelos, and a few others of their party were hanging out in Mizuho. On this particular day, Sheena seemed rather quiet. She and Corrine were lounging by the shrine on the west side of town.

"Hello?" a vistor said. It was Zelos.

"Hey." Sheena sounded like Presea, robotic, monotone and not quite herself.

"You alright?" Zelos asked.

Sheena said nothing, only closed her eyes.

"Hmm." Zelos frowned. Nothing he ever did could get her out of her little shell.

The dog was brown, with a white underbelly and "socks" on his front right and back left paws. Colette squealed upon sighting it, and rushed over. "Hello, doggy! You need a name."

"You're naming the dog?" Zelos asked.

Colette nodded. "I love dogs."

"Really? Me too. I guess it's a Chosen thing."

Colette thought for a moment. "Why don't you name this one?" The dog looked up at Zelos and gave a short, spunky woof.

"Well, I kind of like the name Riku."

Sheena gasped.

"You alright, Sheena?" Lloyd asked.

"Yeah... it's nothing. I used to know someone named Riku, that's all."

"I bet... he was your lover," Zelos said with a grin.

"Uhhhh..." came from Lloyd. Raine rolled her eyes.

"Yeah. And, I bet you had a long, steamy relationship with him."

"I did not!"

"So he WAS your lover."

"No, he wasn't!"

"Then who was he? OH- I bet you two had a one night stand."

"That's not it at all!"

"Yeah, that's what it was," Zelos convinced himself. "Anybody who tried could probably bag you pretty easily."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Sheena yelled angrily. Her eyebrows angled and her mouth turned down. She held up her cards in a battle pose, making her look even more formidable.

"Relax. I was kidding."

"No, you weren't. You're Zelos. You can't go six seconds without thinking about sex! I can't stand it! I don't even know why you're on this journey with us!"

"It's because no one likes me for helping Colette, Sheena. I had no place to go but with you. I like it this way, anyway. I get to travel the world and see all sorts of different beautiful hunnies!"

"Well, do us all a favor," she said, "And stay _far away_ from me!" With that, she stormed off, and for the rest of the day, no one knew where she was.

That night, Zelos couldn't sleep. He sat up on his mat, mulling over the events of the day. Where could that girl be?

Suddenly, he heard a sound, and quickly feigned sleep. He kept one eye open just enough to where he could tell it was Sheena. She stopped before her mat, sighed deeply, then got in and went to sleep.

Zelos said nothing of this. He didn't want his fragile relationship with Sheena to be completely severed, so he didn't bring it up in front of her. He did, however, ask everyone else about it the next day, but no one had seen her sneak in.

"Yeah," Lloyd had said with a grin, "Because you're such a heavy sleeper, Genis."

"Hey! You didn't wake up, either!"

"Boys, nothing will come of this," Raine said rather maternally.

"Yes, Raine," the boys groaned in unison.

That night, Sheena snuck out again. Zelos didn't realize this until he saw her while coming back from a midnight bathroom break. She was feigning sleep this time. She had just arrived, he could tell, because her hair wasn't undone and her cards were still in her hand, in case she needed to defend herself on the way back from wherever she had been.

"Sheena?" he asked, going over to the mat.

She gasped, then, annoyed, she barked, "What, Zelos?"

After a second, he reconsidered. "Never mind. Good night."

Sheena gave no reply, but her breathing changed.

A few nights later, after a long lecture of Raine's on ancient ruins, everyone went to bed extremely tired and went to sleep almost immediately. Except Sheena, who snuck out as soon as she thought she saw the last person's head hit the pillow (which was Zelos', in case you were wondering).

Alright, that's it. I gotta know where she's going, Zelos thought. Slowly, but surely, he crept behind Sheena at a safe distance, all the way to Ozette. Traveling through the Gaorrachia Forest, she made her way to a halfway decent-looking house in the middle section of the city. He recognized one of the people inside as he looked through the window, hiding every few seconds behind the crates just outside. The girl's name was Melody, and she was one of the girls he used to flirt with before she'd moved to Ozette. She was about twenty-two, with long brown hair and green eyes. He also noticed her younger brother Rick, who was blonde, brown-eyed, and if he remembered correctly, somewhat bratty. They spoke to Sheena as if they were old friends. He couldn't hear the conversation, but did catch a glimpse of Melody gesturing to a small bundle sleeping soundly near the fireplace. It looked like a tiny, black-haired person wrapped in blue blankets.

A baby? What's going on? Zelos wondered.

After a while, Melody and Rick came towards the door. Zelos, fearing capture, hid on the side of the building while the brother and sister team left. Sheena carried the baby into another room.

Zelos opened the door as quietly as he could once he thought Melody and Rick were out of earshot. He stood by the door, trying to hear inside from behind it. Nothing. Suddenly, the door opened, but Sheena went over to the bed, which was on the other side of the room from the door. The baby boy had seen Zelos and was now walking rather wobbily over to him. Zelos shook his head alarmingly and put his finger over his mouth.

"Ganaahhh."

Zelos closed his eyes, opened them, and crept around the corner as silently as he could. He had almost made it when-

"What are you DOING here?" Sheena screamed.

"Sheena?!" Zelos asked in mock surprise, turning around. "Where did you come from?"

"Stop trying to hide it. I know you followed me here."

Zelos looked at the floor. "Okay, so I did. But it was for your own good."

The boy, about one year old, crawled over to Zelos. "Unnn-guh."

"Well, hello," Zelos said. "Who are you?"

Sheena scowled, but Zelos didn't see.

The baby pulled on Zelos' pants. "Doogie!"

"Who's baby is this?"

Sheena was silent.

"Sheena?"

"It's mine, okay?"

There was a moment of silence. Suddenly, Zelos burst out laughing. "Ha ha HAAAA! Are you serious? Wow Sheena, I didn't think you were that kind of person. Care to share your little secret with me?"

Sheena was getting increasingly more angered by the second. "Zelos, you idiot! Get a life so you can stop ruining mine!"

Zelos gave Sheena a "Please, is that all you can say?" look.

Sheena glowered, but slowly her anger level lowered to a less manic state. Really quietly, she muttered, "I was raped, okay!"

Zelos was silent for a moment. "What?"

The baby boy inched closer to Zelos. "Na naaaaaa."

There was silence again. Then, "Who did it?"

"Kuchinawa. He was... not himself. The next day he didn't even remember it."

"Wow... when did this happen? How did you hide it? What did you _do_?" Zelos' eyes widened in curiosity. "You really need to report this."

"I ran away, but they sent Orochi after me. I was almost to Ozette when he found me. He took one look at my giant belly and knew everything. He had been with Kuchinawa that night. I pleaded him to keep my secret, and he finally agreed. But he had to tell something to the people of Mizuho. He pretended to keep looking for me and only took me back to Mizuho after I had the baby. By then about a year and eight months had passed and everyone wondered where I was in all that time. I was really hiding in disguise here, in Ozette, trying to find someone who would help me. Finally, Melody and her brother took me in. She offered to take care of him while I led a normal life in Mizuho. But... well, you know... I wanted to see him, and my life didn't turn out normally at all, so I figured..." Sheena trailed off, staring into the distance.

"Oh..." Zelos slowly cast his eyes toward the ground. "I- I'm sorry, Sheena."

"For what?" she shot back, almost angrily.

"...For saying all those sexual things about you. I mean... I'm not gonna stop, but-"

"Then what's the point of even apologizing?"

"It's hard to break bad habits, Sheena. But... I really am sorry. I... had no idea."

Sheena's face softened. Finally, she asked, "Would you like to feed him?"

"Yeah..." Zelos said. "I'd like that..."

"Oh, by the way," Sheena said. "His name is Riku."

THE END


End file.
